Tony Gravett (Healthwatch) delivered the Annual Healthwatch Report to the Board, and discussed:

 

a)    Healthwatch was an independent organisation established to listen and collate people’s feedback from health and care services, and to work with providers to drive improvements;

 

b)    Healthwatch had a primarily volunteer base, with 26 volunteers and 15 employed staff across Devon, Plymouth, and Torbay;

 

c)    In the last financial year 3,395 people shared their experiences with Healthwatch and 620 people received advice and signposting. Healthwatch had produced 10 major reports during this period, with focusses including emergency department attendances’, ‘unpaid carers’, ‘the cost of living’ and ‘pharmacy provision’;

 

d)    The majority of feedback received related to GP and dental services however, pharmacy feedback had significantly increased during the period of announced closures;

 

e)    Healthwatch had conducted focus groups across the region to feed into phase one of the PASP;

 

f)     Healthwatch had worked in close partnership with NHS Devon, Livewell SW and UHP to provide feedback, inform priorities and influence future improvement projects;

 

g)     Priorities for Healthwatch work within Plymouth in the next financial year would be health, social care, children and young people, mental health and digital health.

 

In response to questions, the Board discussed:

 

h)    The development of the Pharmaceutical Need Assessment and influence of public feedback;

 

i)     The need for clear communication of service offers and appropriate treatment locations, including GP, 111, urgent treatment centres, and the emergency department;

 

j)     The value of Healthwatch’s work in producing patient feedback for Livewell, UHP and NHS Devon;

 

k)    Ongoing work in Plymouth between Healthwatch and care homes, with the planned re-establishment of a 2019 programme to provide care home visits. These visits would engage staff and residents to ascertain their experiences and drive improvement and assurance work.

 

The Board agreed to:

 

1.    Request further information from Healthwatch England as to Plymouth’s performance in relation to its comparator neighbours;

 

2.    Note the report.

 

Tony Gravett (Healthwatch) delivered the ‘Missing Millions - Exploring hidden and unmet social care needs for disabled people’ report to the Board, and discussed:

 

a)    The Healthwatch England report aimed to address lack of data, investigating who was and wasn’t accessing care, and why. The survey used a sample of 1,504 disabled adults aged 18-64;

 

b)    Key findings indicated 1.5 million disabled adults could be eligible for social care support, but had not requested it. This could be due to personal choice, lack of knowledge, or lack of ability to apply for care;

 

c)    Care services received positive feedback, with 78% of people in receipt of care agreeing that ‘care enabled them to live the lives they want to live’;

 

d)    Social care enabled people to stay healthy, conduct the activities they wanted to, look after themselves and their homes, as well as work and volunteer;

 

e)    The survey identified that access to social care was a challenge, with 28% of the sample never accessing any care despite identifying as eligible;

 

f)     The majority of those waiting for care assessments received adequate information and support, including waiting times and what to expect. The survey identified however, that 10% of people waiting received no support;

 

g)    As a result of the report, Healthwatch England had set out recommendations, available here: Missing millions: Exploring unmet social care need for disabled adults | Healthwatch.

 

In response to questions, the Board discussed:

 

h)    Efforts to broaden engagement and awareness of care eligibility;

 

i)     An increasing number of people under 65 entering the care system, driving increased demand;

 

j)     The importance of young carers and need for further surveys to be undertaken to assess the impact of care provision on the under 18 population;

 

k)    The importance of prevention and ‘self-help’. Not all people entitled to social care would necessarily require it, with support available from friends, family, and the voluntary, community and social enterprise sector;

 

l)     The recent adoption of a data system by Public Health which enabled identification of people on low incomes who may be eligible for benefit support, but who were not claiming them. A pilot had been launched to test methods of communication, and Citizens Advice would be providing individual support to enable them to apply.

 

The Board agreed:

 

1.    To ask Healthwatch Devon, Plymouth and Torbay to work with Plymouth City Council to include Young Carers in the next phase of their unpaid carers work.

 

2.    To note the report.